The invention relates to an internal combustion engine with electronic components controlled from a central unit and arranged together with the central unit in a fully enclosed metal part of the internal combustion engine.
Modern internal combustion engines are controlled to an increasing extent electronically and require a number of electronic components for this purpose, in particular sensors, actuators and associated control units. Such sensors include, for example, digital Hall sensors with which the rotational speed of the crankshaft can be determined. As an example of actuators, solenoid valves can be named with which the valve needle is controlled in fuel injectors. The sensors and actuators are connected via supply lines to a voltage source and connected via control lines to a control unit or to a central unit. These supply and control lines are usually connected at both ends by means of plug contacts to the electronic components and to the control unit or central unit. In motor vehicles, the entire supply and control leads are grouped together to form the so-called cable tree.
The disadvantage of cable trees made up in this way is the high number of plug contacts needed between the electronic components and the electrical leads. These plug contacts represent the main source of faults in the case of motor vehicle malfunctions.